Calling in Today’s World

Voices from Eight Faith Perspectives

Kathleen A. Cahalan and Douglas J. Schuurman, eds. (Eerdmans, 2016)

The language of vocation emerged from within the Christian tradition. Yet other religions have similar terms to explain how people and communities gain a sense of purpose, direction, and meaning.

Beginning in 2014, a group of scholars has been exploring concepts, perspectives, and challenges related to a sense of calling from Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Confucian, Daoist, and secular traditions. Together they have written Calling in Today’s World: Voices from Eight Faith Perspectives (Eerdmans, 2016).

“Calling in Today’s World offers broad yet balanced perspectives on a question that rightly preoccupies believers across religious traditions: What is this call that changes one’s life, whence does it come, and where does it lead? Whether readers are already convinced of their calling, or seeking to retrieve the very idea of a personal calling, or simply curious about how religious people think themselves called, this volume offers a mature and generous set of aptly nuanced possibilities for study and appropriation.”
– Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University